US stocks jump on renewed optimism of an end to the China trade war

US stock indexes were up on Friday as Wall Street made its fourth successive week of gains, while the dollar also had its first positive week in a month.

It comes on the back of renewed hope that the US-China trade war could be nearing its conclusion.

Stocks jumped on news that China were considering increasing its annual goods imports from the US to over $1tr as it bids to reduce its trade surplus to zero by 2024, according to Bloomberg.

That report followed another on Thursday, which claimed treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin was considering lifting some or all of the tariffs placed on Chinese imports, although the treasury denied those claims.

At Friday’s close the Dow Jones rose 336.25 points, or 1.38 per cent, to 24,706.35. The S&P gained 1.32 percent to 2,670.71, and the Nasdaq added 1.03 percent to 7,157.23.

It was the S&P 500’s biggest four-week gain since October 2011. The index had dropped 19.8 per cent below its record close on September 20 but is now just 8.9 per cent below that.

It had neared the 20 per cent drop on Christmas Eve – a threshold commonly used to deem a bear market.

The dollar was also boosted by increased optimism over trade, with the dollar index rising 0.31 per cent, while the Euro was down 0.26 per cent to $1.1365.

Meanwhile oil prices continued to rise, jumping around 3 per cent after OPEC gave details on its reduced production aimed at easing global oversupply.

Brent crude gained $1.52, or 2.48 per cent, to settle at $62.70 a barrel, while US WTI crude added $1.73 to settle at $53.80 a barrel, or 3.32 percent up.